Amish Friendship bread and starter

[Marcia]

Amish Friendship Bread & Starter
Use glass bowls or Ziplock bags and wooden spoons or plastic. No Metal.
Day 1 is the day you mix together the yeast, water, flour and sugar. Day 10 is the day to give it away or to make the loaves of bread. If you don't give it away after Day 10 it can be frozen then thawed out to use at a later date. When you give the starter away make sure you include the 10-Day instructions and the bread recipe.
Amish Friendship Bread Starter
1 package active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water
2 cups sifted flour
1 tablespoon sugar
Dissolve yeast in 1 cup of the warm water. Stir in the remaining warm water, flour and sugar, beat until smooth. Place in a glass bowl or Ziplock bag on the countertop, do not put in refrigerator. Cover with a clean dishcloth. The starter will ferment for 10 days before it is ready to use or to give away.
10 Day Instructions;
Day 1 Begin or receive starter
Day 2 Stir
Day 3 Stir
Day 4 Stir
Day 5 Add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk
Day 6 Stir
Day 7 Stir
Day 8 Do nothing
Day 9 Do nothing
Day 10 Add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk
Put 1 cup of starter in each of 3 containers, give to friends and keep one for you to start again. This will be Day 1. You can give this away in Ziplock bags, just be sure to tell your friends to burp bag about twice daily if needed. After measuring out 3 portions there will be some left to make your 2 loaves of bread.
To the remaining batter add:
1 cup of oil
1 cup of sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 large box or 2 small boxes of vanilla pudding, instant
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Beat with a fork until well blended. If desired add 1 cup of raisins or nuts or chocolate chips. Grease 2 loaf pans with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until a pick inserted in center comes out clean.

[Nene]

Marcia -
Is there another way to keep the starter going without freezing it or adding 3 cups to it every 10 days? Unfortunately, the friends I have are either not bakers or are not the sort to keep starters altho' they appreciate the unique taste such receipes have.
Thank you for the recipe,
Nene

[Robyn2]

It has been quite awhile since I have made this but YES there is a way to do it.

I think what I did was I did not add the flour and etc on the 5th day. I just continued to let it ferment.

To be able to have one starter and one to make the recipe I would just separate it on Day 10 and not add the sugar, milk and flour that the recipe calls for.


Also, You can use different flavors of pudding mix.

Robyn

[Robyn2]

Just pulling this to the front page because so many people keep asking for this recipe in the newsletter.

[GRskeeter]

One day sitting at my desk, a male friend plunked this bag of goo with a letter attached to it. Amazed, I asked what it was. He answered, Freindship Bread. I brought home to the kids - we loved it, some much that we made it until our minds went out the window. His version had different ingredients for different types like the chocolate bread, cinamon swirel, and carmel nut. Years have gone by and we lost that sheet. We thought of the chocolate bread for many different school events. No one seems to know what I'm talking about.

[cuteascountry_Shortcake]

Hi GRskeeter,

I thought you might like to check out this link.

www.geocities.com/webcipes2/bread/b60.html

I am including the link for the entire webpage too.
www.geocities.com/webcipes/bread.html
There are just so many good recipes here. Hope you find the "starter recipes" useful.

Here is what turned up on the Google Search Engine for Amish Chocolate Friendship Bread: www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Amish+friendship+chocolate+bread

Enjoy,
Shortcake

[Nene]

I finally got my starter started and baked the bread. Two questions:
1 - Does 4 cups starter sound right for the 2 loaves?
2 - Altho' delicious my bread was heavy and I remember it being much lighter. What did I do wrong? I used Marcia's recipe.

Thanks for the help,
Nene

[chief_cook2]

Nene,
Here is one that does work well and easy to understand . Give this one a try and go from there.




Amish Friendship Starter
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup flour

Combine the ingredients in a large deep glass or plastic container.
Cover lightly. If the container has a lid, leave it slightly ajar or
place a piece of cheesecloth over the container and secure with a
rubberband. Store at room temperature. Stir every day for 17 days. On
day 18 do nothing. On days 19, 20 and 21 stir. On day 22, stir and
add 1cup of flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Stir again. On days
23, 24, 25, and 26 stir. On day 27 add 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of
sugar, and 1 cup of milk. Stir. You should now have about 4 cups of
starter. Give 2 friends each 1 cup and keep 2 cups for yourself. Use
1 of the two cups in the Amish Friendship Bread recipe and use the
other to keep the starter going. When you give the starter away
include these instructions:

Keeping a starter going: Do not refrigerate and do not use a metal
spoon when stirring the starter. On day 1 (the day you receive the
starter), do nothing, On days 2, 3 and 4 stir. On day 5 stir in 1 cup
flour, 1 cup sugar, and cup milk. Pour mixture into large glass
mixing bowl; cover lightly. The mixture will rise. On days 6, 7, 8,
and 9 stir. On day 10 stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup
milk. Stir. Give 2 friends each 1 cup. Keep for yourself 1 cup to
make Friendship Bread and one cup to keep the starter going.

Amish Friendship Bread
1 cup starter
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar 3 eggs
1 1/2tsp baking powder
1-1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2tsp salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Your choice of raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, seeds, apples, dates
etc.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Place batter in well greased
and sugared 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350*F for 45-50 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

[EaglesNest]

Hi all,

I have had this bread in the past and it is great. My mother was from a town in PA that has a lot of Amish folks and she was always making this bread in all kinds of different ways. I am glad to have finally found a way to make it myself as she never showed me how to make the starter because she always received the starter from her friends.

My question is: Is there a way to circumvent making the starter and still have a quasi-friendship bread? Since running across this recipe I would like to include it in my dishes that I plan on making for our family reunion on Saturday Aug 2nd. I know, pushing it right, but I know that for instance you can sub vinegar and milk for buttermilk in buckwheat pancakes, not the same, but works and thought perhaps there was a way to do something on that order for the starter.

Thanks
Eagle